Incredibly sad news coming out of Denver today: The Rocky Mountain News is folding, with February 27, 2009 as its last publishing day.
Today was an important day to be on Twitter, following @rmn_newsroom. Followers could read instant updates on the tone of the newsroom.
And the updates (”tweets”) from @rnm_newsroom were terribly heartbreaking. Don’t take my word for it. If you Twitter, you know what to do. If you don’t Twitter, then click on this link and keep it in your browser all day Friday: @rmn_newsroom
It’s rough for one person to realize that his or her last day of work is within a couple of days. I could not imagine an entire newsroom receiving that news all at once.
Because of the RMN’s closure, I’ve had some interesting conversations with Google Talk friends about the future of the newspaper business model and its implications. One conversation discussed the fact that this is the tip of the iceburg/the first domino/the spark—pick your metaphor for the … ahem … I don’t like to curse, but this closure is going to start a journalism s**tshow of terrible.
One conversation I had with a friend today post-RMN news involved alternative business models—she favoring a non-profit/not-for-profit business model. I’m not the greatest fan of a non-profit model. Being laid off from a non-profit newspaper, I don’t sense that sort of business model is any more secure than the current model used. To me, a non-profit business model just switches newspaper’s accountability from corporate shareholders to grantmakers. My friend made good points that the shift away from being accountable to shareholders is the important, attractive part of a non-profit business model. OK, I bite.
I find it incredibly frustrating that a profitable 21st-century business model—or even parts of a profitable 21st-century business model—haven’t been discovered and implemented. Since j-school, all my classmates have known that the current model wasn’t working—and that was five years ago.
At this point, I’m just complaining and not adding anything to productive discourse about the future of the news business. If you feel like ranting or sharing something positive, add it in the comments.
In brighter news: The Denver Post will be hiring some RMN writers. But scroll to the bottom of the article. More than 95% left though. Sigh.
